Poultry processor Northern Ireland's most profitable food manufacturer

Poultry processor Moy Park is Northern Ireland's most profitable food processor in a major survey of local business.

The company, which is headquartered at Craigavon in county Armagh, is placed fifth in the list of Northern Ireland's most profitable businesses in the survey by Business Eye magazine and sponsored by Danske Bank.

Moy Park follows Danske Bank, the most profitable, another bank, AIB(UK), Belfast Harbour and Ulster Bank in the list.

Moy Park saw pre-tax profits rise to almost £60 million at the end of 2016 from £35 million the year before. The processor, now owned by Pilgrim's Pride of the US, is Northern Ireland's only £1 billion plus manufacturing business.

It employs almost 10,000 people and exports poultry to key international markets.

Other food companies listed in the magazine's Profit200 include food distributors SHS Group and John Henderson Holdings as well as meat manufacturers Hilton Foods (UK) and Dunbia as well as Dale Farm Dairies, the region's leading dairy business, and Fane Valley Group, which has interests in meat and cereals.

Others featuring in the list include Ready Eggs, a major supplier of liquid eggs, Avondale Foods, a producer of salads and soups, meat processor Foyle Foods and Lynn's Country Foods, a specialist in sausages and the recently launched nitrite-free bacon.